Li Ke stayed in Beijing and did not return, so Qin Mubai had no choice but to take on the important military and political affairs of Xiangzhou alone. The emperor attached so much importance to the Xiangzhou ritual, and also sent Xiao Yu, the prime minister who was a special expert in picking bones in eggs and advocating "perfectionism", to be the supervisor, and Qin Mubai secretly complained.

For two days in a row, Qin Mubai gathered the big and small officials under the rule of Xiangzhou together to discuss and arrange various tasks. Overall, there are three big things:

First, arrange the trip between the prince and the king of Jiangxia in advance. Since it is a big festival of the imperial court, there must be many officials who will come at that time, at least, there will be a lot of people from the East Palace and Jiangxia Palace. Therefore, the Xingyuan Mansion should not be too small. According to Xiao Yu, it is to be "newly built", but where is it possible to temporarily build two large mansions in just three months? And they just stop for a while and leave, which is enough to cost their lives and money. Qin Mubai is a local parent official, and the manpower and material resources that will be wasted at that time are all "his own", so he thought of countermeasures, and requisitioned the mansions of the two Xiangzhou tycoons who were arrested and arrested before, Ouyang Jun and Duan Rongji, repaired and appropriately renovated, and used them as the mansions of the prince and the king of Jiangxia.

In fact, on the side of the prince and the king of Jiangxia, Qin Mubai was not worried, the only thing that worried him was whether Xiao Yu, a fastidious old man, would agree. Therefore, it is important to convince him in advance.

The second major event is the major civil engineering project in the mausoleum of Emperor Yang. Qin Mubai asked Xiao Yu's opinion, and Xiao Yu said that he would transform the swamp and water port of Xihecao into a royal garden suitable for carriages and horses. On the stone slope where the mausoleum underground palace is located, it is necessary to build a "Ming Palace" (a palace that exposes the surface), which is used to display some cultural relics and inscriptions of the former Sui Dynasty, and Yang Guang's coffin can be placed in the underground palace, but the corpse must be embalmed with spices, and the jade coffin is placed......

These requests made Qin Mubai's head loud. Just talking about the transformation of the West River Trough - a puddle within a radius of dozens of miles, if it is to be changed to land, isn't that moving mountains and reclaiming the sea? How could it be done without the use of tens of thousands of people's labor?

In fact, to put it bluntly, the so-called sacrifice to Yang Guang is just a political show of the emperor, and he can't do it at all. But there is no way, Xiao Yu is such a real person, and he especially likes to use chicken feathers as arrows. After being demoted several times, he has not been reused, and he must be depressed in his heart. This time, I was finally entrusted with a "heavy task", and I definitely wanted to do a good job to show my "ability".

But Qin Mubai really wanted to scold this old man, but he didn't have a backache when he stood and talked. First, extravagance and waste of labor and money are not the usual style of Zhenguan Datang, and second, in just three months, where can he meet his requirements? Not to mention three months, even three years may not work!

There is no way, Qin Mubai has to bargain with Xiao Yu. If you don't lower the bar, you can't do this errand.

The third major thing left is to properly settle Xiao Yu and his entourage. Xiao Yu went south, in addition to bringing more than 1,000 soldiers of the Imperial Forest Army to prepare for the tomb of Emperor Yang, there were hundreds of craftsmen, as well as tens of thousands of stones of various building materials, grain and grass, silver and other materials. Among them, there are many more valuable items such as gold and mercury. This matter can only fall on the military, so Qin Mubai asked Pang Fei to be responsible, and asked the soldiers of the Xiangzhou Military Government to temporarily build a large military camp to house these animals and materials brought by Xiao Yu.

It's easy to say, but it's tedious and complicated. Ten days passed, Xiao Yu saw that Xiangzhou was in a mess, but he didn't see the mansion he wanted, and the project of Xihecao had not started, so the boss was not happy, and sent people to urge him again and again, and finally couldn't hold his breath, and asked Qin Mubai to go to the pavilion to see him.

Qin Mubai was so busy that he was holding back the fire in his belly, and he couldn't wait to go to the pavilion to meet him for a while.

It was the height of summer, the weather was hot and humid, and there were many mosquitoes. Xiao Yu, who came to Jingxiang from the northern Guannei, was extremely unsuitable for the incompatibility of water and soil. With his heart rising and his business not going well, his temper became more and more eccentric and irritable. When Qin Mubai came to the pavilion, he could almost smell the smell of gunpowder emanating from his body.

"Qin Mubai, you came just in time!" Without waiting for Qin Mubai to enter the door and sit down, Xiao Yu rushed up and burst into a frenzy, "Why don't you do what this pavilion orders?" Where are the officials you have built? Why has the construction of the West River Trough not started for a long time? ”

"Xiao Ge Old !!" Qin Mubai was ignited by his anger at once, and he shouted, which shocked Xiao Yu all over, and his eyes almost flew out of the sky.

Seeing Xiao Yu's stunned expression as if he had lost his soul, Qin Mubai was angry and funny.

"Listen to the word of humility!" Qin Mubai said, "The request you put forward is simply beyond the reach of manpower. ”

Xiao Yu was supposed to be angry and wanted to be powerful, but he was extinguished by Qin Mubai's mighty voice, but seeing that Qin Mubai's anger was even stronger than him, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and whispered: "Is it really so serious?" ”

"Elder Xiao Ge, I don't think your old man is at home, I don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are." Qin Mubai was not polite, and said bluntly, "In three months, you asked me to drain the water in a radius of dozens of miles, fill in the swamp and build the Ming Palace, is this possible?" Not to mention three months, not even three years! Why don't you board the boat tomorrow and go with me to the West River Channel to have a look? It's connected to the Han River, don't you want me to move mountains and seas? As for the line between the crown prince and the king of Jiangxia, I have already chosen. The decoration and renovation of the two mansions will surely satisfy the crown prince and the king of Jiangxia. If there is something wrong, Duan Duan will not be able to take the blame from your Xiao Ge elder, and someone Qin will raise his head to see them! ”

"Ugh! ......" Xiao Yu was shocked and said busily, "It doesn't have to be like this, it doesn't have to be like this. General Qin, if you have something to say, why be angry? ”

Qin Mubai took a long breath to calm his anger and said, "I have nothing to say, and I also ask the elder Haihan." However, a small place in Xiangzhou is really unable to do things perfectly in a short period of time and meet the requirements of Xiao Gelao. The project of Xihecao can be discussed after the elder has seen the terrain. It's just that in these two places, the lowly office insists on choosing the old house to be renovated, rather than building a new one. ”

"But...... The prince is the prince of the country, leaving Beijing and going south, and can he have no line? Wouldn't it be detrimental to the royal majesty if he let him live in someone else's old house? Xiao Yu still said without giving up.

"Of course not." Qin Mubai said, "Not only will it not damage the majesty of the royal family, but it will also let the world know that my Tang Prince's diligence and thrift can be an example for the world." Didn't His Majesty the Emperor always advocate frugality? Isn't that just right? ”

"Uh...... Okay, okay, it's up to you. Xiao Yu waved her hand again and again, and she was a little defeated.

"Thank you, Elder Ge. In this way, the lowly post was retired first. Tomorrow, the lowly staff will send someone to the post house to pick up the elder and go to Xihecao and his party together. Qin Mubai arched his hand and strode away, so he didn't want to talk nonsense with Xiao Yu.

"Uh......" Xiao Yu looked at Qin Mubai's figure striding through the clouds, and was stunned for a long time before coming back to his senses, and muttered, "Stinky boy, is you so fierce?" It's just unreasonable, bullying the elderly! ”

Walking out of the post house, Qin Mubai was happy and funny, and said in his heart: With a sour old man like Xiao Yu, there is no reason to talk about it. If you give him three points of color, he will start a chain of dyeing houses. It is clear that he is just an overseer and a symbolic figure, and I am responsible for everything, and I can't listen to him. Since then, I have been able to do whatever I like, and I have acted cheaply, and I am not afraid that he will go to the emperor to sue me for these things, let alone offend him.

There are a lot of things, Qin Mubai didn't want to stay longer. When he left the post house and was about to get on the horse, he suddenly heard a voice behind him calling him: "Hey, isn't this General Qin?" ”

Qin Mubai looked back and saw a middle-aged man, extremely familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it for a while.

"Your Excellency is so familiar, but Qin's old acquaintance?" Qin Mubai stopped beside the horse and asked.

"Haha, General Qin is really a noble man and how forgetful." The man stepped forward and arched his hand, and said with a smile, "Is the tiger head chiseled golden spear of the general and Lord Ling Zun still usable?" ”

"Oh, remember!" Qin Mubai slapped his forehead and said with a smile, "It turned out to be the order of the superintendent of the left school, you look at my memory, it's really bad." ”

"It doesn't matter. It's normal for a big man like a general to occasionally not remember a small role like a villain. Tu Zhiling said with a smile.

"It's a shame to say that. Why, you also followed Xiao Yu to the south and came to Xiangzhou? Qin Mubai asked.

"Yes! Half of our craftsmen from the Left School Office came. Tu Zhiling sighed and said in a low voice, "When we arrived here, the water and soil did not match, we lived in the temporary military camp, the tea and rice were unpalatable, there were many mosquitoes, and I couldn't sleep at night, but it hurt us." If you want to say, it's all Xiao Yu's fault. In fact, the saint just said casually that he would be responsible for the rituals. It's good for him to make the sacrifice of the former Sui emperor more grand than the sacrifice to the first emperor. After receiving the holy decree, he took the initiative to ask the emperor, saying that such a major sacrifice would require the imperial court to send royal nobles to express its sincerity. Emperor Chrysostom had been opened, so he had to agree to Xiao Yu's many rude requests, and sent the crown prince and the king of Jiangxia to Xiangzhou to preside over the ceremony with the king of Wu. Now it's okay, even the prince has been moved by him Xiao Yu, can he not stir up the people? Thereupon...... We, a thousand or hundreds of people, all followed him south. Hey, that's a bad luck! ”

Qin Mubai laughed, led the horse and beckoned him to go forward, and said as he walked: "You guys are okay, Xiangzhou is only bitter here." Let's not talk about that. Did you come to the pavilion to find Xiao Yu? ”

"yes!" Tu Zhiling said, "Several of the officials who accompanied us were not used to life in the military camp, and many of them vomited and vomited, and their whole body was bitten by mosquitoes and lost an inch of their skin. So I wanted to move back to the inn together. Fang just made a special trip here to ask Xiao Yu for an order. ”

"Forget it, you don't have to go to him. He is now angry, and he will definitely arrest and scold someone. Since you're an old acquaintance of mine, I'll give you a hand. Qin Mubai said with a smile, "Bring those officials who are familiar with you and live in Xiangyang County, and I will be responsible for renting a comfortable inn for you." But remember, don't alarm too many people. ”

"In this way, it's really General Xie Qin!" Tu Zhiling was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly bent down and bowed his hand. This is like, he was supposed to sleep in the wilderness, live in a simple tent, and eat army food cooked in a big pot, but suddenly lived in a free five-star hotel, can he not be happy?

"It's just a gesture, no thanks." Qin Mubai smiled slightly and said, "Maybe in the future, I will have to bother Tu Zhizhi to help me build weapons and armor, just don't shirk when the time comes." ”

"Haha, that definitely won't. General Qin has orders, just say it. Anyway, Tu is also a good eater of the imperial court, who is doing things for him, why not help General Qin? Tu Signing Order was also refreshing, and laughed.

Qin Mubai's heart couldn't help but light up, and said, "Don't say it, right now, I really have a tricky job, and I need the help of a master craftsman." I don't know what it makes you ......."

"But there is an order, and I will not give it up!" The painting order is arched in color.

Qin Mubai pondered for a moment, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Tu signed the order, why don't we make a deal?" ”

"What kind of deal?"

"If you help me make this artifact, not only will I give you 100,000 yuan in private, but I will also guarantee that you will come to Xiangzhou Assassin's Mansion to be a Cao Zheng official, how about it?" Qin Mubai said.

"Huh?" When I heard the order, I was stunned!

100,000 yuan is not a small amount, but that's fine. The most tempting thing is the Cao Zheng official of the Xiangzhou Assassin Mansion. Although he will be the commissioner of the Zuo School Administration, he is also an official of six or seven grades, but to put it bluntly, he is just a craftsman. There are four major social classes of agriculture and industry, and although he has a rank, he has no social or political status.

But Cao Zheng, an official of the Xiangzhou Local Assassin Office, is different, he is a "minister" with real power in his hands. If the official position is transferred, then his surname Tu will actually complete the class transformation from "worker" to "official". This may be a "pioneering feat" that he will not be able to accomplish in his lifetime.

"General Qin, are you serious?!" Of course, I couldn't believe it.

"Do you think I'm a joker?" Qin Mubai said seriously.

"Good! I took over this errand with my humble position! 100,000 yuan is not to be accepted, as long as General Qin fulfills his promise after the matter is completed, and transfers the humble post to the Xiangzhou Assassin Mansion to provide an errand, the life of the humble post Tu Youhai will be sold to the general! "Tu signed the order and swore solemnly.

"Yay. Now, come with me, get on the horse! ”

The two rode together and arrived at the "scientific research institute" outside Xiangyang City. Since Qin Mubai brought in the four masters and apprentices of Niu Wuzhi, he has repeatedly repaired this place, and now it has become a quiet and secluded place. All kinds of tools, materials and instruments are very complete, and the three old men of Da Lei, Erlei and Sanlei, are here day and night to study Fan Zhu's cannon, and they are very busy. Food, clothing, shelter and transportation are also served, and they will never be treated badly anyway.

Qin Mubai led Tu Youhai in and introduced each other to the three old men. When the old men heard that this was the "master Fan caster" invited by Qin Mubai from Chang'an, they all respected Tu Youhai.

Qin Mubai asked Tu Youhai to look at the drawings of the cannon and asked him if he was sure.

Tu Youhai smiled relaxedly: "General Qin, this is much easier to make than that piano!" That is, Fan Zhu's polishing is a bit difficult, but it is just a hard work. The key is to control the temperature of the molten iron when it is baked, so that the wall of the cannon can withstand the high temperature and heavy pressure. ”

"A master is a master!" Qin Mubai raised his thumb and praised him, "Then I'll leave it to you!" ”

"Wait! I can't do it alone. Please forgive me for being rude. Whenever I Fan Zhu and his party are in his party, there must be a few people who will cooperate from the side, and it will definitely not work if I change the unfamiliar people. I also came to Xiangzhou with a few of my own apprentices, who happened to be my deputy. Tu Youhai said to Qin Mubai, "When you go and summon them to your humble position, you can immediately start casting cannons for General Fan of Qin!" ”

"Yes, great!" Qin Mubai laughed happily, and said to the three old men, "Three masters, don't think about being idle. Master Tu casts cannons, you prepare five-fingered divine thunder, each division of labor, one cannot be missing! ”

"The old man and the others should obey the order!"

Qin Mubai was secretly happy in his heart, and thought: If Tu Youhai Zhenneng Fan Casting Cannon succeeds, then it will be cool. What could be more powerful than this art destroying the city? Moreover, if such a cannon is loaded on a warship like the Shenyu Flying Ship, no matter the water battle or naval battle, who else in the world can beat the Tang Dynasty Naval Division?

After thinking about it, Qin Mubai wanted to laugh again: It seems that Xiao Yu, an old man, has done some good things by mistake! If he hadn't done this with chicken feathers as arrows, how could Tu Youhai and these people appear in Xiangzhou?!

Ha ha!